Johannesburg – Eskom said that an investigation was under way to determine why the utility was overburdened by boiler tube leaks which contributed to power outages.
The power utility called off Stage 2 power cuts at 5am on Thursday morning after the public had to contend with rolling blackouts for a week.
It said that it had no replenish emergency generation reserves.
Eskom said that over the last year it had doubled maintenance and was dealing with a shortage of over 5,000 megawatts as a result.
The maintenance plan was also increasing the risk of power cuts.
“We suffered a lot of boiler tube leaks which the team identified as a recurring theme particularly after winter. The investigation going on now is to establish why are we always getting caught by boiler tube leaks, particularly after winter. But the maintenance has paid dividends. The work that we are doing now is to prepare for the next winter,” said Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha.
